


Story before the story

by EarthBorn93



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Pre-Canon, Spacer (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25665691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarthBorn93/pseuds/EarthBorn93
Summary: Short stories of Anya Shepard before the timeline of the games. To be updated when I have the time and the inclination to write more of this.
Kudos: 1





	Story before the story

**In the training yards**

Anya ran forward, the rest of her squad following just behind her. Around her were dull grey concrete walls meant to represent the sides of buildings. Now and then thy came across actual buildings that could be occupied, but they passed them by. Beneath her feet small clouds of dust rose to the air with every step taken on the tightly packed soil.

It was a hot day on Terra Nova. Overhead the sky was almost cloudless, leaving the sun free to barrage them with its rays without mercy. It was close to midday, so there were precious few shadows to give them a respite, and less time to seek out spots of cover from the sun.

She could feel the sun heating up the standard issue alliance armor she wore. Sweat was pooling inside the armor, making her feel sticky and uncomfortable all over. What she would have given to be inside the air conditioned confines of a space ships or a space station. From the labored breathing of her squadmates she guessed the others weren't doing much better than herself.

It was difficult to put into words how much she disliked being groundside like this. She had grown up in space, on ships and stations all over the Systems Alliance controlled regions of space. Even on the rare occasions she had briefly visited a planet in the past she had spent her time on a spaceport or in the confines of a city at least. Always in controlled, carefully measured environments, surrounded by technology. Coming to train here on this planet had been quite a culture shock.

The first thing had been the vast open spaces. Somehow she had simply found it disconcerting. There was a little bit of irony in that, seeing as she had been raised in the vastness of space. But space was so massive that it went beyond the brains ability to perceive, unlike open spaces planetside. A bit like how a person who was afraid of heights might still be able to fly on a plane.

The second thing was how… alive… everything was. How in forests and other such places every available surface was full of things growing, crawling, even biting. Very strange for someone who had lived her entire life in built environments. Some of her squad found nature relaxing. To her it was a green hell that she needed to overcome. Most in her team were from the colonies, a few more from Earth. None of them had her spacer background, so none of them quite got what she was complaining about. A few of the city dwellers from Earth did come quite close though.

The first time her company had gone to train in the wilderness they had camped in a swamp. Her squad of twelve was made to sleep in a tent meant to hold perhaps half that number. In the spot she was to sleep in a bump on the ground had pressed into her back, forcing her to spend the night in what was just about the most uncomfortable position possible, barely getting any sleep at all. When it had been her turn to stand watch during the night she had sat in a foxhole trying her best to stay quiet. Not the easiest thing to do considering the veritable swarm of mosquitoes (ubiquitous in any human colony where the environment was sufficient for insects alongside flies, ants and earthworms.) trying to eat her alive. Indeed those flying little monsters had bothered her so much she had wanted to run across the swamp screaming. But of course that was not something that she could do. The whole point of having a watch during the night was because it was practice for an actual situation in battlefield conditions. Giving away her position and that of her platoon was simply unacceptable. So she had stayed put for the two hours that had been her guard shift, feeling utterly miserable.

Wintertime had brought its own difficulties. She had almost gotten herself frostbitten, simply because she had underestimated the sheer coldness a snowstorm could bring. She had been warned of cource, told to inspect herself daily while at camp, because frostbite could sneak up on you unnoticed, a part of the body just going numb. Yet even so she had not thought it could happen so easily, had not considered how important it was to keep herself adequately covered and dry while outside. At least in that she had not been entirely alone. Some of the others who had been raised in warmer climes had had similar issue.

For all her complaints and difficulties in this unfamiliar environment, she did not regret her decision to enlist in the slightest. Indeed the more she did this the more she felt like this was where she was meant to be. Maybe it was in her blood, since both her parents had been in the military. But being a soldier felt natural, like she was born to do it. This is what she wanted to do with her life, and that got her thinking what paths she might pursue on so doing.

She had been in training for almost a full year, first learning to march and behave as a soldier, then in handling weapons and how to fight as an individual in combat. By now she had moved on to more advanced stuff, squad tactics and specialization training. Her experience with tech and starships had seen her pegged for combat engineer training early on. Certainly they had caught on how she had tampered with her armor to increase shield strength and reduce the time before shield recharge. Officially she had been told not to do so without authorization and had been assigned a new set of standard issue gear. Privately her initiative had been complimented and her talents noted for future reference. Yet she had already decided she also wanted to undergo officer training. Since childhood she had wanted to command a ship of her own. It would take time, but if she put in enough effort she was sure she could get there.

She had also been thinking about applying for the interplanetary combatives academy. The N7 were the best the alliance had to offer, and she had a feeling she could be one of them if she wanted to. Yet that dream was still a long way away. She would have to prove herself as a common soldier first, rise through the ranks and excel in her missions until she could be considered ready to even try that.

She pressed on, refusing to slow her pace despite the heat slowing her down. She had been named the squad leader for this exercise, so she had to lead by example. Soon enough she approached an intersection and stopped and knelt raising a hand balled into a fist, signaling her squad to stop. Out of habit she tried to send out a drone, only to then remember she and the others had been asked to hand over their omnitools before the exercise had begun.

"A soldier should be capable of engaging in combat without machine assistance. Technology should be an additional edge, not a crutch." They had been told by the instructors. At least even in this scenario they had been allowed the use of shields. Doing otherwise would detract too much from the realism of the simulation. Though she suspected that a special challenge without functioning shields might be coming sometime later, just to see how well they could adapt to a very unusual situation.

So instead she glanced around the corner to ensure no enemies were waiting, then pumped her fist up and down, signaling for the squad to advance, and onwards they went, advancing towards their assigned objective.

She rounded another corner close to the objective when she noticed another recruit that had just come into the open. One wearing a bright yellow vest over his armor as opposed to the blue vests her team was wearing. Opposing team member. From the corner of her eye she spotted others as well.

The opposing recruit raised his weapon. But Anya was quicker. A burst of shots erupted from her assault rifle, impacting against his shields. Moments later there was a beep inside her helmet, informing her of a confirmed kill. Of course this was an exercise and her shots were at reduced strength, so they had no chance of penetrating functional kinetic barriers or intact armor. But VI's in their suits still registered all combat data and informed them of what would have happened had this practice been the real thing. The opposing recruit gave out a grumble and laid down to play dead. She and her squad moved past him without a word, advancing to a T-intersection.

The objective was a bunker on the far end of the street, left at the intersection. Anya was just about to start down the street when a series of flashes and a loud chattering noise made her jump back into cover. Even then her shield took a pair of hits, blue energy flaring. As soon as she was out of sight she checked the readouts of her helmet computer. Her shields had taken the impact but had dropped 40% from that pair of shots alone. And there had been several dozen rounds in a two second burst. That made her curse. That thing hit hard and quickly.

"Heavy machine gun on the far end of the street! Stay back!" She shouted to her squad as the gun continued to spit bullets in short bursts.

That gun was right at their objective, blocking their advance. The opposing gun was potent enough to chew through her whole squad in seconds if they tried a frontal assault and the wide open street offered almost no cover. She had to think of another solution, and quickly. The opposing team likely had squad or two of their own in this exercise and with the machine gun firing they now knew where her people were. If she waited her squad would be surrounded and wiped.

"Uh, Olson, keep the gun occupied while I think. Give a few bursts now and then, but take care not to expose yourselves. Toombs, Paddles, check the back street behind us, see if you can find another route. Mira and Perry stand watch so we don't get sneaked up on while we plan." She ordered.

Olson took a firing position where Anya had been, firing blind rounds in the general direction of the bunker. Toombs and Paddles departed back the way the squad had come from, Paddles muttering under his breath about his involuntarily acquired nickname, like every time it was used. Mira took position at the nearest point of cover. Looking past the crossroads down the street ahead of them. Perry likewise covered the direction they had come from. The remaining four gathered around her to hear her plan.

"How are we going to take out an MG from in here?" Asked one, Miquel.

"Can we call in a mortar barrage or an airstrike?" Queried another, Iris.

"We weren't assigned any for the exercise. All we have is what the squad carries. And I doubt mortar shells would damage the bunker anyway." Anya said, shaking her head.

"Well fuck." Iris cursed.

"Other route is a no go. The Yellows got it barricaded. Likely mined too. Would take us a long time to get through here." Toombs said as he ran back to the squad with Paddles.

"Time we don't have." Anya said. She considered the equipment the squad had available. Once again she wished she had her omnitool. With that she could have tried to sneak in closer and overload the gun or sabotage it. Or maybe just send a drone inside the bunker to harass and distract the gunner as her squad approached. Now she had to think of something else.

"Grenades? No, too far away, and no way to get close enough. Combat knives? Nope, even worse. Why did I even consider that? Come on Anya, focus. There's got to be some way to crack this." She thought frantically.

"Can we just shoot the gunner?" Miquel suggested next.

"Not easily. The gap is rather narrow, hard to hit. And we'd be getting shot at the whole time, making it even more difficult. " Anya said. "Although… what about it, Iris? Think you can make the shot?" She asked of the other woman. Unlike the rest of the squad she had been given a sniper rifle on account of her being the best shot in the squad, even better than Anya, which was quite an accomplishment in and of itself.

"Going to need a perch." Iris replied.

Anya nodded and looked around for something suitable. "What about the structure right at the intersection? It's fairly tall and you'd have a clear sightline to the bunker." She suggested.

"Could work. But how am I going to get there. The MG is watching the approach. I'll be shot the second I show my face." Iris said.

"Right. We'll need to figure out how to give you some cover then." She said. After a moment of further consideration a possibility occurred to her.

"Miquel, you're carrying signal smokes right? Hand it over." She said.

"Sure thing. But who are we signaling? I thought we hadn't been assigned any support options?" He said, handing her the canister.

"I'm not thinking about signaling anyone. But these things generate a lot of really thick smoke. Which could be just what we need." She said.

"Okay, here's the plan." She said, kneeling and quickly drawing the layout of the intersection into the sand at their feet. "I'll throw the smoke, which should give us a moment of sight cover. Iris, when the MG is blinded you go to the building and set up firing position. Once the smoke clears you drop the gunner, then we rush the bunker."

"Got it." Iris said.

"The next building on the way to the bunker sticks a little out onto the street, giving enough cover for one. I'll got there. It'll make them think we tried to use the signaling smoke to advance toward them. Should give you a bit longer window to take aim." Anya continued.

"Good thinking." Iris commented.

"Toombs, it this doesn't work I'll likely be pinned. If it comes to that you'll have to cook up the next plan, got it?" Anya said.

"Understood." Toombs said.

"Ok. Everyone get ready. And Iris? You'll likely only get one shot." Anya said.

"All I need." Iris said with a confident smile.

"Right then. Ready… smoke out…NOW!" Anya shouted, activating the canister in her hands and throwing it on the street. After a few seconds there was a shower of sparks followed by a thick red smoke that enveloped the street from end to end, obscuring the machine gun's view. Anya nodded to Iris and rushed forward while Iris darted for the building. The machine gun was now firing blindly, trying to hit anything that might be hiding behind the cloud. Anya's shield was struck once, and from the corner of her eye she could see Iris stumble twice as her shield took hits as well. But neither of them were hit in a way that would have taken them out.

Anya leaned against the slightly extended wall of the building and fired a brief burst in the general direction of the bunker. She had just time to see the barrel of the machine gun before she hid behind cover again, trying to make herself as small as possible. Suddenly a loud bark of a sniper rifle rang out and the relentless chatter of the machine gun abruptly fell silent. Anya looked up and saw Iris give thumbs up before disappearing from view. A wide smile broke on Anya's face.

"Squad, assault the bunker! Go, go, go!" She shouted and rushed toward the objective. The rest of the squad rounded the corner and ran after her, Iris joining them as she exited the building.

Anya was about halfway there when she heard shots coming from behind her and her helmet VI began registering hits against her shields. She turned around and saw that Yellow Squad had circled around them, most of her squad already downed. She cursed, dropped to one knee and managed to get off a short burst before her helmet began to make a loud beeping sound and her assault rifle locked itself, preventing her from firing. She checked her helmet, the VI informing her that she had sustained a dozen direct hits against her stomach, chest and arms, and finally one straight through the head. According to the exercise she was dead beyond any medic's skill.

Anya sighed in frustration and laid down on the ground. The last members of her squad were cut down moments later, Irine lying down right next to her. Then a whistle from the monitoring instructor halted the exercise.

"Shepard, you idiot! Always watch your back while advancing!" Iris whispered sharply as they lay there playing dead.

"I know, I know, a stupid mistake. I…" Anya began to say.

"Shut both of you. Dead people don't usually spend time analyzing their tactics." The instructor said in a calm voice, giving Anya a slight nudge with his boot.

"Sorry ser." Anya muttered.

"They don't apologize either." The instructor said, not turning his attention from the notes he was making on his datapad.

"All right, Yellow squad, Blue squad, form up." The instructor the shouted. The *dead* of the Blue squad got on their feet and formed into two lines standing at attention, joined shortly by the Yellows.

"Good job Yellow squad, you repelled the enemy attack. The objective bunker is secure." The instructor congratulated.

"Blue squad, analysis on where you went wrong? Anyone?" The instructor then asked.

"It was my mistake sir. I didn't set a rearguard as we advanced on the bunker. Didn't see the flanking attempt until it was too late." Anya spoke up.

"I see." The instructor said, with a nod, apparently pleased that she was willing to own up for her mistakes. "And what should you have done instead?" He asked.

"I should have left half of Blue Squad to take up firing position and protect our rear, while the other half moved to secure the objective. My sniper should have remained in position so she could give fire support and pin down potential enemy flankers. The second half should then have joined up with us once we reached the objective." She answered.

"Correct. An interesting idea using the signal smoke. I must comment that in an actual situation that could lead miscommunication with other units or support elements, and so best avoided.

"Yes, sir. However in this mission no allied squads or support assets were available, so I felt using signal smoke as a visual obstruction was justifiable." She said.

"What other options did you consider besides the one you attempted?" He asked.

"A mortar or airstrike was considered, but no such assets were available. A flanking maneuver around the objective was considered, but the available path was blocked off." She tallied.

The instructor nodded. "Well, you did not accomplish the mission objective, but your tactical decisions were mostly sound and you showed an ability to improvise. You'll get an average grade. You're learning, but you still have a long way to go."

"Ok Yellow squad, remove any defenses or obstructions you placed, then report back to the barracks. Blue squad, your next objective is to defend the target bunker against an assault by Green squad. Once Yellow squad departs you have one hour to set up what defenses you see fit, using materials with your squad, in the bunker or what you find in the surrounding area. Shepard has the command." The instructor said.

"Any questions?" He asked.

"No sir!" The recruits said in unison.


End file.
